Chapter no 3-The Lycan King

Amara

I ran towards the forest to race against time. It was my only chance to protect Erica.

I walked up to my father’s rigid body and looked into his sunken eyes. He had desired a peaceful death, but he didn’t get it. The least I can do is avenge him.

With one last glance upon his face, I stood straight and did what I hadn’t done for the past three years. I felt my skin grow, and my body turn and twist.

Although it wasn’t allowed by Jacob, my sister and I turned into wolves almost three days a week, where our father trained us, in our living room. He believed we should know how to fight.

I ran straight towards the vines, opening my mouth, chopping off the thorny vines, and my mouth got bruised. Tasting blood, I continued, until there was enough path for me to cross. With one quick jump. I was out. Tears strung in my eyes. I was in my freedom.

I hated it!

I needed to find the white fox. They were rare, but if you knew where to look, you could find a couple. Searching for almost two hours, of running forward towards the end of the forest to reach the Enigma pack. My legs were cramping like they never had before. The pain and the cold was too much, but it didn’t stop me, not even once. I had sworn to only stop when I reach the gates to the Enigma pack.

It was cold, and I had started to see traces of snow on the land I crossed.

My throat was as dry as the bark of a tree. My head had started to spin when I finally eyed a white fox. I wanted to howl loudly with joy, but instead I leaped at the poor animal. The animal was as wild as they claimed, razor-sharp nails and teeth that were used against me in a good fight. I was cut and injured by the wild animal before I snapped at its neck with one final attack. I saw its blood oozing out and flowing over the white snow.

I shifted to human.

I held the warm dead animal in my hands, drinking the blood from its wounds. My throat soaking in the liquid. I used my hands to remove the skin off of the poor animal, and ate a few pieces. It was then I realized I hadn’t eaten anything the entire day.

Holding onto the fur, I wrapped it securely around my neck and shifted again. Then I took off.

It was a distance of five hours that I had completed in three. Tired, weak, and covered in blood, I reached the giant gates of black metal. Unlike the Seraphic pack, whose territories were defined by thorn vines, Enigma had metal walls. It was the biggest land both in population and in area. The men surrounding the gates saw me, a rogue wolf approaching. In front of the gates, I shifted to human form and fell to my knees. My breath was short, as I panted for more air. The cold air of the north had restricted my windpipe.

“What do you want?” A roar hit her ears, deep and strict. I whimpered. The accent they had was very different from mine.

“I present…a gift…to the alpha,” I spoke in a loud voice, using up my leftover strength with pauses for breath. The cold air fills my lungs making me shiver. My heart is slamming against my rib cage.

“And why?” The roar comes again.

“I need…help…to save my sister…else she would be killed in the morning,” I said loudly. I did not want to appear weak and frail in front of them.

“who are you?”

“I am Amara …of the Seraphic pack! I need help, in return…I bring peace and prosperity,” I lifted up the fox’s skin, the white fur glistening in the moonlight.

The man walked in front of me and stood there, looking down at me.

“You think The Alpha is so idle that he would lend you a hand for your trivial matters? He has things to do, a land to run!”

“But I heard The Alpha was Righteous and Impartial. My sister…she did nothing wrong. The men. They want to rape her! and then kill her. I implore to the justice of your Pack to let me meet the Alpha and plead the Alpha for her life and honor! Let him decide if he wants to be just,”

They looked taken aback by my strong words. A guard walked to me and held his hand out for the fur. I hesitantly passed it to him. The man held the skin in his hand and gave it a whiff. He nodded his head once.

“Let me escort you,” The man said. I stood up onto my weak legs, blood dried over several wounds on my body. My mouth stained red, from my own blood and the blood of the fox. My clothes torn in some places. I looked wild.

The guard led the way, while I walked behind him. A wolf followed behind us, big and grey. They said that the men in the Enigma pack were larger than those of the other packs, more vigilant, more strong, and had more muscle mass than others. It was their strong genes. I could now see how true it was.

Soon enough, we reached a car. I had only seen such vehicles in the hands of the rich of the Seraphic pack. Four were owned by Alpha Jacob, and seven more were owned by the three rich families of the pack. The man opened the door for me and ushered me to sit inside. I did. And I was thankful for how soft it was. A bliss for my sore body. The vehicle roared and moved forward, and we entered the city.

The road we traveled on was sandwiched between the city and the forest. The road was very big, almost five lanes drawn with paint.

The city was highly modernized. Tall, glass buildings that peeked above the clouds on one side, followed by smaller ones as we reached towards the big road we were traveling on.

The right of the road accompanied a grove which followed a denser forest to its right. A river flowed in the grove, following the path of the road.

It had fresh blue waters. I had read about it. The river was named Niamon. We crossed a large beautiful bridge that connected the city and the jungle, over Niamon.

The car stopped in front of gates bigger than those of the city gates, which slowly opened, and we traveled in. The atmosphere had changed the moment the car moved from the city to the palace gates. Vast lands stretched inside the cemented walls. Gloomy big trees, and long stretched paths on both sides.

My door opened again, and I hurried out, whimpering as my swollen feet touched the ground again.

Big steps lead to a wooden door almost triple my height. They took me inside. It was as dark and gloomy as the outside. Cemented and stone walls, wooden floors, and Grey roofs.

They led me down the hall, and the man knocked on a door. He then went in and came out after five minutes. Meanwhile, I was of the verge of collapse. Would I be able to talk to a man like him? The Alpha Damien of Enigma pack! Just a wall away from me. He could kill me right now, and no one would know or move a muscle. No one would save Erica. Would I be able to plead my case to the most cruel man on earth?

“Alpha is waiting for you,” My heart shrank, fluttering like a bird about to die while still entrapped in a small cage. I slide my wet hands on the doorknob and turn it, while my other hand clutches the fur tightly.

I enter the room and immediately feel the tension rising on my shoulders. I take a deep breath, mixed in the scent of cigars and cider.

Slowly, I lifted my eyes and looked straight at him. He stood there. Taller than any man I had ever seen, he a built strong and muscular. A face beautiful and Eerie. Haunting but enchanting at the same time. Something stirred inside me, almost as if my entire world had changed without my permission. My skin burned. My fingers itched, and my mind numbed.

Mate!

The lycan king Damien, of the Enigma pack, was my mate!

My breath got stuck in my throat. My skin burned to touch him.

A loud growl echoed through the entire room.

“Who are you?” A voice hit her ears, loud and rough.

Your mate!

I took a step back at his tone. He was angry, I could tell by his clasped hands and furrowed brows.

Please help me!

“I…I am A…Amara of Seraphic pack,” I breathed, gulping in saliva.

Please save my sister!

“Seraphic!” He sneered, looking unimpressed. His whiskey colored eyes glowed in the dark.

“Why do you come…here?” He said, voice deep and rough.

“I bring peace-peace and p-prosperity to you, Alpha,” My voice cracking even though I had worked hard not to appear weak. I raised my hands for him to see the fur.

“I ask for your help… My sister, She…They would kill her,”

Alpha Damien raises his brows in question.

“Alpha Jacob, our alpha…of the Seraphic pack. He picks women, and uses them…before killing them. Please save her! I be-beg you!” Tears run down my face. My head spins, but I steady myself.

He showed no emotions. He does not care, nor does he want me! He does not want to be associated with someone from the Seraphic pack. He looks disgusted. Does he not realize how much it will pain me!

“Please, Jacob would kill her tomorrow, he has her now!”

I could not bear the death of the only family left to me. I would die this instant. I fell to my knees, as my head kept spinning and my vision became blurry.

“How can I recognize her?” He said, his eyes reflecting a strange emotion. His hands balled by his side, gripping onto the table till his knuckles turned white.

She raises her head, “She has black hair…and blue eyes. A birthmark on her right arm. She is the only… woman there, he…he killed the rest. He always does that,” I whispered the last line.

“Save her,” My breathing slowed. I think I fell, because my head was on the floor now. A warm hand on my cheek is all I felt, and darkness consumed me, “Save me, Damien.”